Headlight-dimming attachment.



L. E. EATON. HEADLIGHT DIMMING ATTACHMENT. APPLICATION IXLBD NOV.5,1914.

1,128,959. Patented Feb. 16, 1915.

witmenm MJZLW gun.

/ v l Home frs ra LESLIE EUGENE EATON, OIE' HOT SPRINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA.

i HEADLGHT-IDIMMING ATTACHMENT To all whom it may concern Be it knownthat I, LnsLm E. EATON, a citizen of the United States, residing at HotSprings, in the county of Fall River and State of South Dakota, haveinvented certain new and useful improvements in Hendlight-DimmingAttachments, of which the' by the strength of the ligt emitted therefromis such as to blin pedestrians and operators of approaching automobiles,which has often resulted in serious accidents. ln fact in manylocalities laws have been passed prohibiting the use of such headlightswithout some means of dimming them. These regulations have resulted inthe employment of various makeshifts for accomplishing this result, suchas coating the glass with soap or paint or by attaching a shield ofpaper or cloth either inside or outside of the lass. '.lhe greatobjection to these makeshiits is that when the driver of an automobilehas passed througha district wherein glaring headlights are prohibitedand reaches the country where strong lights are requisite, it isnecessary that he get out o'l` the automobile and remove the soap,paint, paper, Cloth ,or whatever makeshift he employed on the headlight,which is an inconvenient,

time consuming and objectionable operation,

especially in rainy weather. It is with these facts in view that thepresent invention has been designed, and it has for its Jfurther objectthe. provision of a variably movable shield whereby the headlights maybe used in the. ordinary manner, as when passing through the country, ordimmed to a greater or less degree when passing through cityv streets.

An additional object is the provision of a device of this characterformed as an attach ment to any acetylene gas headlight and adjustableto lit burners of different sizes.

Other objects and advantages such as simplicity, cheapness inmanufacture, ease of installation and operation, together with Specictonof Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1e, 1ers.

Application filed November 5, w14. Serial No. 870,48ll.

the eneral improvement of the art will be care ully brought out in theJfollowing de scription and illustrated in the accompany ing drawings,in which:

v Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of the front portion 0i' anautomobile show"- ing my operating means applied to a headn light, Fig.2'is a fragmentary front eleva tion of a headlight arid its associatedparts showing my device applied thereto inJ its operative position, Fig.3 is a longitudinal sectional View through a headlight showing my deviceapplied thereto and showing .it in.` its operative position by fulllines, and in its inoperative position by dotted lines, F ig. 4 is a.perspective view of my device etached from the headlight, and Fig. 5 is'a. fragmentary sectional view through the dash oi' the automobileshowing my novel controlling means.

' by means of the usual bracket 3. rl`he head light 2 is of the wellknown type embodying a reflector fl, a burner base 5, and a burner 6.

ln carrying out my invention l provide a clamp 7 formed in two sections,each haviug an ear 8 and clamped upon the burner base 5 by means of asuitable clamping screw 9. Each of the sections of the clamp has formedthereon an extension l() and between these extensions is rigidly securedan lupright post 11, which extends in front ot' the burner base 5. andburner (3. A plate or disk l2, slotted as shown at 13 for the receptionof the post 1l isr pivoted upon the post by means of a pin 14 passingthrough ears 15 on the disk 12 and through a selected one of a pluralityof holes i6 formed in the post 1l.. At its rear edge, the plate 12 isprovided with an apcrtured lug 1T to which is connected one end of acoil spring 18 which has its other end connectetl with an aperturedeax-'19 on the lower portion of the post 11.

My device is applied to the headlight by placing the clamping member 7about t e burner base 5 and securing it in positi bv means of theclamping screw 9. rl plate 12 is vertically adiustablebythemf-f of thepin 14 and the holes 1G so that it u be at the proper height to bedisposed liront of the light from the burner l. tension of the spring 1Swill norma-.lli7 the rear edge of the plate 12 down titi Ailli and causethe plate to be held in a substantially vertical position, the end ofthe slot 13 engaging the front edge of the post 11 and serving as astop. When the plate 12 is in its normal position, just described, therays of light passing from and near the focus of the reflector 4 will becut ofi', thus greatly dimming the light and removing the glare. l

In order that the position of the plate 12 may be varied to permit thefull amount of light to be ilsed or only a portion thereof, I providecontrolling means operable from the inside of the automobile. Thiscontrolling means comprises a sleeve 2O secured through the dash 21 oftlieautomobile and slidably receiving a rod'22 to the front end of whichis connected a wire or cable 23 which extends forwardly alongside thehood and which is trained about a guide roller 24 secured upon thebracket 3 supporting the headligl'it 2. The cable 23 then extendsupwardly through a small opening 25 in the headlight and is connectedwith an ear 26 formed on the front of the plate 12. The plate 12 beingin its normal and dimming position as shown by full lines in Fig'. 8,pulling back upon the rod 22 will pull the cable 23 rearwardly andconsequently move the plate 12 into a horizontal'position,sliown bydotted lines in Fig. 3, out of the path of the rays of light. thusallowing the full power of the headlight to be used. It is of courseobvious that a branch cable 23 extends to a similar roller on thebracket of and into the other headlight. l

In order that the plate 12 may be moved only partially, in order to varythe strength of the light by a small degree, I provide the rod 22 with aplurality of notches 27 any one of which may be engaged upon a lug 28formed on the sleeve 20. A leaf spring 29 is secured Within the sleeve20 and bears upon the upper edge of the rod, holding it againstmovement. In order to move the rod 22 for operating the plate 12 it isnecessary to move the inner end of the rod 22 upwardly against theresistance of the spring 29 thereby releasing the notch' from engagementwith the lug 28. The rod v 22 may be then moved longitudinally until thelight has been dimmed or brightened as desired. after which the rod 22is merely released. whereupon the lug 28 will` he reengaaed b v anotch.

Although I have shown and described my dimming device as 4being disposedin front of the burner 6, it Will be readily understood that I may placeit in back thereof. In this event instead of the light itself beingobscured. merely its reflection would be obscured. It will also beunderstood that instead of having the plate 12 in a normally dimmingposition. I may arrange the parts so that the headlight will normallygive out its maximum degree ot' light.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. An automobile headlight dimming device comprising a bracketdetachably connected with the burner standard, a plate pivoted upon saidbracket, said plate being normally held in a vertical position in frontof the burner by a coil spring, and means operated from the dashboard ofthe automobile for moving said plate out of said vertical position to ahorizontal position in front oi the burner for the emission of the fulllight rays` 2. An automobile headlight dimming device comprising aclamping member detachably connected with the burner standard, anupright rigidly secured to said clamping member, a plate pivoted uponsaid upright and movable between a horizontal and a substantiallyvertical position in front of the focus of the reflector, means fornormally holding said plate at one extremity of its movement, and meansfor moving said plate.

3. An automobile acetylene headlight dimming device comprising aclamping member detachably connected with the burner standard, 'anupright secured to said clamping member, a plate pivoted upon saidupright and movable into-a substantially lhorizontal position in frontof the burner, and means for moving said plate.

4. An automobile acetylene headlight dimming device comprising a bracketconnected with the burner standard. a plate pivoted on said bracket andadapted to be disposed in front of the burner, said plate being normallyheld in a vertical position in front of said burner by a coil spring andhaving a flexible connection with a rod mounted in the dashboard forcontrolling itsmovement to a horizontal position for the emission of allof the light.

5. An automobile headlight dimming device comprising a clamping memberdetachably connected with the burner standard. an upright rigidlysecured to said clamping member, a plate pivoted upon said upright andmovable between ahorizontal and a substantially vertical position infront of the focus of the reflector. said plate being` normally held ina vertical position in front of said reilector by a spring, and meansfor moving said plate toa horizontal position.

In testimony whereof I hereto aliix myv signature in the presence of twoWitnesses.

LESLIE EUGENE EATON. lVitnesses E. Il. ADAMS, A E. R. JUCKETT.

